President Donald Trump said he will veto Democratic legislation he considers “insane” now that the party controls both chambers of Congress, while suggesting that rising gasoline prices tied to the conflict with Iran were a bigger factor in Republican losses than the war itself.
Speaking to Fox News Channel during live Election Night coverage Tuesday, Trump said he was surprised by the GOP’s showing but said he still expects to find common ground with Democrats after an initial standoff.
“They’ll send over things that are insane and I’ll veto them,” Trump said. “And after a couple of months of vetoes, they’ll go out and they’ll say, ‘How do we get this stuff done?’ And we’ll work together.”
Democrats flipped at least seven Republican-held Senate seats and more than two dozen House districts in Tuesday’s elections, taking control of both chambers. The results put Democrats in position to block Trump’s legislative agenda, reject his nominees and open investigations into his administration for the remainder of his term.
Trump cast his veto power as leverage in future negotiations and said some Democratic lawmakers had already reached out to him since the results came in.
“You know, I have a lot of friends that are Democrats, believe it or not. I’ve already spoken to some of them,” Trump said.
He added that he had already spoken with some Democratic members of Congress and that others were waiting to call.
Gas Prices Over the War, Trump Says
Asked about the GOP’s weak performance, Trump pointed to gasoline prices rather than the military campaign against Iran as the likely driver of voter frustration.
“I don’t think it’s the war, Bret, I think it’s the gasoline price,” Trump told “Special Report” anchor Bret Baier. “People agree with what I’m doing on Iran, but they really probably weren’t willing to do the short-term consequence of paying more for gasoline.”
Trump defended the Iran campaign, framing any economic fallout as a temporary cost for what he described as a necessary long-term security achievement.
“I think a part of it was Iran. But at the same time, people understood the importance of what I’ve done with Iran,” Trump said. “I think historically it’s going to be much more important than this evening, because you can’t let the number one state sponsor of terror have a nuclear weapon.”
Candidates, Not Trump, Took the Blame
Trump also pinned some of the blame on individual Republican candidates, arguing that the enthusiasm generated at his own rallies didn’t carry over into votes for everyone he endorsed.
“I’m a little bit surprised. I thought they’d do better,” Trump said. “We had tremendous rallies. We had about 30 of them.”
He said some candidates lost support among his base because they had previously opposed him, while others simply failed to generate turnout on their own.
“They didn’t like the candidates and some of the candidates that I endorsed fought me, and they didn’t like that they fought me,” Trump said. “And I wasn’t on the ballot. If I was on the ballot, they would have gotten out.”
Trump stopped short of calling the results a personal defeat, even as he credited Democrats for their performance.
“I think the Democrats did a good job, I really do. I think they did a good job. They fought hard,” Trump said. “I don’t like to consider it a defeat. If you’re on the ballot, it’s different than if you’re not on the ballot.”
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